CEATEC Japan 2009, the verbosely self-dubbed “Cutting-edge IT & Electronics Comprehensive Exhibition”, will wrap up on October 10. There have been some exciting displays at the massive exhibition (which, last year, drew almost 200,000 visitors), but it seems that HD 3-D Television has garnered the most attention, so far. At the heart of the coverage are new releases from two familiar local players: Sony Corporation ((ADR) NYSE: SNE | TYO: 6758) and Panasonic Corporation ((ADR) NYSE: PC | TYO: 6752).

On the Panasonic side, the short version of the prototype’s technology is along the lines of a 50-inch, 1080p, 3-D plasma display which a viewer takes in through active shutter glasses. Another nice bit of information about the product – which is expected to be available “next year” – is that a compatible Blu-ray drive will be simultaneously released. However, broadcast content is not expected. Sony’s 50-inch LCD Bravia will certainly be a competitor, although release information seems to be a bit less transparent than that of Panasonic.

According to its press release from September, Sony plans to launch its 3D compatible “BRAVIA” LCD TVs in 2010 as well as incorporate 3D compatibility into devices such as Blu-ray Disc products, VAIO and PlayStation®3 that will provide a multitude of ways in which 3D content – from 3D movies to stereoscopic 3D games – can be enjoyed in the home. Check out the video that Sony included with its press release:

Three years after being convicted of assisting copyright violations through the distribution of Winny, his P2P file-sharing software, Isamu Kaneko’s guilty verdict was overturned on appeal by The Osaka Prefecture Supreme Court. Although Kaneko was never sentenced to any jail time he was fined ¥1.5 million (US$13,200) which has now been vacated.

“Today’s ruling helps not only myself but also other computer engineers in pursuing the development of computer technology.”
– Isamu Kaneko

Kaneko launched Winny back in May 2002 and was accused of helping 2 people unlawfully distribute video game software and other data through the use of his product. A Kyoto District Court ruled against him and levied the fine. His appeal asserted his claim that he had no intention of violating Copyright Law with his software; rather, his lawyers claim that “The purpose (of supplying the software) was purely to verify the technology. The crime of assisting violations by a large indefinite number of people whom he has never met does not stand.”

When I first read some headlines from news sources like The Huffington Post, Mashable and ZDNet describing Photosketch as “quite possibly the coolest thing I’ve ever seen a computer do”, I was intrigued but felt certain that it would probably be somewhat underwhelming. Then I watched the complete video online and saw the technological intricacies of creating a new photograph by “reading” a stick-figure sketch and then compositing all of the image items from a huge gallery of unrelated online photos. At that point I drank the kool aid and agreed that I was blown away. You have to check out the video below to see it in detail but here is a quick overview of what PhotoSketch is and who is behind it.

PhotoSketch is a software system that composes a realistic picture from a simple freehand sketch annotated with text labels. The composed picture is generated by seamlessly stitching several photographs — found by searching the Internet — that match the layout of the sketch and text labels that describe its components. The technologies involved in the system include:

Automatic search and selection of suitable photographs using a filtering scheme to exclude undesirable images,

Algorithm to locate scene items in a photograph to select it, evaluate it and “grab-cut” the image, and

A unique blending algorithm to allow seamless composition of images cut from different photographs onto a new background.

So who are the geniuses behind this incredible technology or well-executed hoax? According to the website it consists of a team of 5 students from Tsinghua University in China and the National University of Singapore who presented the project in a research paper for Siggraph Asia 2009.

As you might imagine, the web community is going crazy over this predicting everything from the end of creative agencies (not likely) to the idea that the whole thing is an elaborate fake. The binary files for the image filtering scheme of the paper are available on the students’ website but it has received so much traffic that last time I checked it was almost impossible for the page to even load. Here is the URL for their website in case you want to try: http://cg.cs.tsinghua.edu.cn/montage/main.htm.

I think that S. Korean Internet portal, Daum Communications Corporation (KOSDAQ: 035720.KQ), has a great idea to provide all of its employees with an iPhone, once the device is introduced into the market in November. According to JoongAng Daily all Daum employees will get the iPhone from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) and free data usage for two years in order to “accustom [them] to the wireless Internet atmosphere for mobile phones and improve the company’s products in that market.” If only more US companies had such a forward looking attitude towards empowering employees to engage with the technologies that are important to their future.

Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM), the leader in online content delivery infrastructure, today released the 2009 edition of its quarterly State of the Internet reportwhich provides insight into key Internet statistics such as origin of attack traffic, network outages, and broadband connectivity levels across the globe.

The following highlights demonstrate the significance of China, S. Korea and Japan in global Internet security, connectivity and speed:

Attack TrafficIn Q2 2009 the United States and China continued to be the two largest sources of attack traffic, accounting for nearly 45% of observed attack traffic in total; however, while the US fell almost 35% as a percent of attack traffic since Q1 2009, China grew by almost 14% over the same period. In addition, South Korea was in third place with 6.83% of total attack traffic and Japan was in ninth place with 1.95%.

Internet Connectivity
For the fifth consecutive quarter, the United States and China accounted for nearly 40% of the Read the rest of this entry »